Helm Rollback Failed: Fix in 5 Minutes

helm status myapp -n production
# STATUS: pending-upgrade    ← this blocks new operations, including rollback
 
helm history myapp -n production
# REVISION  STATUS      DESCRIPTION
# 12        deployed    Upgrade complete
# 13        failed      Upgrade "myapp" failed: timed out waiting for condition
# 14        pending-upgrade    ← stuck here from a previous failed rollback attempt

helm rollback myapp 12 -n production
# Error: UPGRADE FAILED: another operation (install/upgrade/rollback) is in progress

# Confirm nothing is actually running against this release
kubectl get pods -n production -l app.kubernetes.io/managed-by=Helm

helm rollback myapp 12 -n production --force    # Sometimes bypasses the lock; try this first
 
# If that doesn't work, manually patch the release secret's status
kubectl get secrets -n production -l owner=helm,name=myapp --sort-by=.metadata.creationTimestamp
# Find the most recent one, decode and check its status
kubectl get secret sh.helm.release.v1.myapp.v14 -n production -o jsonpath='{.data.release}' | base64 -d | base64 -d | gunzip

# If confirmed stuck (no operation actually running), the safest fix is
# deleting the stuck revision's secret so Helm no longer sees it as in-progress
kubectl delete secret sh.helm.release.v1.myapp.v14 -n production
helm rollback myapp 12 -n production

kubectl get jobs -n production -l helm.sh/hook
# NAME                  COMPLETIONS   AGE
# myapp-pre-rollback     0/1           5m    ← stuck or failed

kubectl logs job/myapp-pre-rollback -n production

kubectl delete job myapp-pre-rollback -n production
helm rollback myapp 12 -n production

helm rollback myapp 12 -n production --no-hooks

helm rollback myapp 12 -n production
# Error: rollback "myapp" failed: cannot patch "myapp" with kind Deployment:
# spec.selector: Invalid value: ... field is immutable

kubectl delete deployment myapp -n production --cascade=orphan    # Keeps pods running briefly
helm rollback myapp 12 -n production

helm history myapp -n production
# Only shows the last 10 revisions by default — if you're trying to roll
# back further than that, it's already gone
helm rollback myapp 5 -n production
# Error: release: not found

helm history myapp -n production --max 50    # Check actual available range
 
# If you know the exact chart version and values used previously (from Git history)
helm upgrade myapp ./chart --version 2.3.0 -f old-values.yaml -n production

helm upgrade myapp ./chart --history-max 20 -n production

helm status myapp -n production                                  # current release state
helm history myapp -n production                                  # available rollback targets
kubectl get jobs -n production -l helm.sh/hook                    # stuck hooks
kubectl get secrets -n production -l owner=helm,name=myapp        # release secret states
kubectl get events -n production --sort-by='.lastTimestamp' | tail -20